No, your eyes aren’t fooling you. NFL quarterbacks are literally aging before your eyes.
Crunch these numbers and you’ll feel like you’re back in fifth-grade science class watching that time-lapse film about a seed sprouting into a bud and blossoming into a flower right on the big screen:
The average age of winning quarterbacks last Sunday was 31.8, up from 31.2 in Week 1, 29.9 in Week 2 last season and 29.1 on the second Sunday of 1991.
Eleven of Sunday’s 14 winners were thirty-something, including the New York Giants’ Phil Simms (37), Houston’s Warren Moon (36), New Orleans’ Wade Wilson (34), Minnesota’s Jim McMahon (34), Buffalo’s Jim Kelly (33), Denver’s John Elway (33), the Los Angeles Raiders’ Jeff Hostetler (32) and the Jets’ Boomer Esiason (32).
Just wait until Joe Montana (37) gets back in the lineup.
Those eight veteran passers are off to a 14-3 start. Why are these guys on the backside of the career curve flourishing? Here are some theories:
Since the fabled 1983 draft, when Elway, Kelly and Dan Marino arrived, the draft has produced far more complete busts than guys who will earn Hall of Fame busts.
“After that ’83 class, there have been a couple here and there, but there hasn’t been a huge influx of big-name quarterbacks,” said Wilson.
To wit, this dirty dozen-Todd Marinovich, Mike Elkins, Tommy Hodson, Chuck Long, Dan McGwire, Timm Rosenbach, Vinny Testaverde, Steve Walsh, Andre Ware, Kelly Stouffer, Browning Nagle and Jeff George-have moved from high-draft status to holding clipboards or not holding NFL jobs at all.
“I don’t think there is a problem in this area-I know there is,” said Ron Wolf, general manager of the Green Bay Packers. “You’re just not seeing as many good young quarterbacks coming along.”
Wolf traded for Brett Favre, 24, last year to resolve his problem.
This Sunday, the latest top two draft choices-New England’s Drew Bledsoe and Seattle’s Rick Mirer-will face off in the battle of would-be phenoms. You can throw in Favre and Dallas’ Troy Aikman but the number of young guns is at an all-time low.
“I was just talking about this with Boomer Esiason,” Kelly said. “I told him: `It seems like we’ve been the quarterbacks for the last eight or nine years. And you look around the league and only a couple of great quarterbacks have emerged.’
“You look across the board and maybe you see Troy Aikman and-um, uh, Jeff George. Hopefully, they’ll come along.”
George, malcontent with the Indianapolis Colts, was projected to lead the next generation in Kelly’s footsteps. In fact, he’s backing up Jack Trudeau and another phenom who crashed, Don Majkowski.
To say that Seattle center Ray Donaldson, a former Colt, likes Mirer more than George is an understatement.
“That guy (Mirer) has more heart than Jeff George has ever thought about having. And he’s a much better athlete,” Donaldson said. “About the only comparison would be the strong arm. After that there’s none.”
Wilson, McMahon, Boomer, Montana-many of the old guys with the hot hands have different-colored helmets this season.
“Sometimes a fresh start is all you need,” said Carl Lee, Vikings cornerback. “Some of these guys wanted to get out of a bad situation, others stayed too long.”
Esiason and Wilson are examples. Last Sept. 27, Esiason threw four interceptions in a 42-7 loss to Minnesota in Cincinnati. His arm looked as ragged as a dish towel.
“He played like: `This was it; get me through the season and I’ll be through,’ ” Lee said. “Now he looks like a rookie all over again.”
Esiason has passed for 694 yards in two games as a New York Jet.
Wilson, jettisoned by the Vikings 15 months ago, has undergone a similar rebirth in New Orleans. He completed 22 of 34 passes for 341 yards and three touchdowns last week (and ran for 51 yards) to break the team’s single-game yardage record set by old pal Archie Manning.
“I saw Archie last night and he gave me a bit of the business, but he figures if I got 44 yards on one run, I deserve the record,” Wilson said. “The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing and life is good.”
Esiason figured it would be easier for him and Montana to than for other old vagabonds. Boomer is back in a scheme he built when Jets coach Bruce Coslet was offensive coordinator with the Bengals.
Montana worked with Kansas City offensive coordinator Paul Hackett when they both were in San Francisco.
More Top Picks Best Water Filters For Home
“Joe and I actually are architects of the systems we’re in and we’ve been playing in those systems-me for nine years and Joe for some time longer,” Esiason said. “We’ll probably have a little easier time getting used to what’s going on as opposed to, say, a Jeff Hostetler or a Jim McMahon or a Wade Wilson, where they’re actually in new systems.”
Maybe that’s why McMahon turned the wrong way on a handoff to Charles Evans on Sunday and accidentally gave him the ball on another play when he was supposed to give it to Qadry Ismail.
Counting little goofs, the old guys on new teams appear to be adjusting just fine.
New Viking Barry Word has spent his career lining up behind older quarterbacks, Bobby Hebert in New Orleans, Steve DeBerg and Dave Krieg in Kansas City and now McMahon.
Word’s theory: “The game has become so complex, it’s hard for younger guys to have as much success as the veterans.”
Wilson agrees: “This game is a lot more complex than when I was a rookie in ’81. There’s so much more situational substitutions, nickel defenses and things defenses try to do to confuse you. Younger quarterbacks might come in more athletic than us older guys, but there’s a lot to be said for experience.”
The old guys know something else: Get on a team with a good defense and your passing stats will look better.
“No doubt,” Wilson said.
With a strong defense, an old quarterback finds field position, time of possession and momentum swinging to his side. That’s a major reason Wilson picked New Orleans, Montana picked Kansas City and McMahon picked the Vikings.
“I don’t think people realize how much difference a defense can make for a quarterback,” Esiason said. “A defense that is ranked No. 1 or No. 2 has done a lot for Randall Cunningham or Jim McMahon.”
He’s sure that’s why Montana forced a trade to Kansas City even though Phoenix might have paid more.
“I think that had a lot to do with his decision-making,” Esiason said. “That’s obviously a sign of a very smart, mature quarterback because you just don’t go where the money is. I’m sure Phoenix would have given him a lot more money, but the bottom line is you want to make sure that you have a good defense, too.”
Minnesota coach Dennis Green has gone from Rich Gannon, 26, to Sean Salisbury, 29, to McMahon as quarterbacks. Green pooh-poohs the thought of older guys making good.
“There are some older guys who didn’t do so well the last couple weeks, too, you know.”
He’s right. Steve DeBerg, 39, has been benched at Tampa Bay and replaced by Craig Erickson, 23. Krieg, 34, was awful as a fill-in for Montana in the Chiefs’ 30-0 loss to Houston.
“Talent is talent,” Green said. “The key is finding the right guy. We got the veteran we felt we needed to win here. The one thing unique to the quarterback position is guys can play at an older age.”
And they’re aging before our eyes.